Untangling the Content Technology Knot

The content issues pervasive at b-to-b organizations are a tangle of process and technology

Companies need to start by separating their content priorities from their technology concerns

Next, companies can decide how to use technology to address content priorities

Untangling Christmas lights is frustrating. It is tempting to jump into the middle of the knot to find a way to untangle it, but that only makes matters worse. You need to step back, starting outside of the tangle – that’s the best way to fix things.

We spend a lot of time helping our clients untangle knots while they are thinking through how to rationalize their content technology ecosystems. It is necessary to first take some time to think about the content needs or priorities that the company is seeking to improve or solve. Our research has identified the top five content technology needs or priorities that b-to-b organizations have today:

It is important to note that NO TECHNOLOGY fully solves any of these needs. And orienting yourself around what your needs are helps remove you from vendors’ promises about “doing it all.”

The truth is, these categories are very different, serve different end users, have been implemented at different levels inside b-to-b organizations and, as markets, are at different stages in their evolution. Web content management, marketing resource management and digital asset management are established categories with new breeds popping up, especially in marketing resource management. Sales asset management and content marketing platforms are newer markets with lots of players emerging. And thinking about content display as a sub-category to content marketing, a lot of people are rethinking how consumers can engage with content. These two are also starting to press the boundaries of what they deliver and could be prime targets for acquisition by other players.

When it comes to varying installations for these categories, you’d be hard pressed to find a company that doesn’t have a Web content management system installed. Whether or not a company is running on the latest version or measuring its effectiveness are different stories. But we’re in the relatively early days of the adoption and implementation of sales asset management and content marketing tools.

Chances are that you’re not working from a blank slate when it comes to assessing your content technology ecosystem. Before diving into the technology portion, step back and identify which issues need to be addressed, and prioritize them. A priorities-led approach enables you and your team to cut out much of the background noise that is prevalent in technology discussions. By isolating the technology from the content needs, you can make sure you’re evaluating the most appropriate technologies. Diving in to untangle the mess from the center only adds complexity to the knot.

Like what you read? Share with your social networks.

Cheri Keith

Cheri brings more than a decade of marketing experience to SiriusDecisions’ Demand Services team. Her background includes experience serving b-to-b organizations at communications agencies and tenure working within marketing organizations. She is a respected and results-oriented leader with a proven track record of moving people and programs forward. Follow Cheri at Twitter.com/@Cheri29